“Departures,”29 October 2010 (2008), DVD. We both really enjoyed this 2009 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. A young cellist loses his job when his orchestra dissolves. He and his wife leave Tokyo and return to the distant city of his youth. Searching for work, he answers an ad that he thinks is for a travel agent, but it turns out to be for an encoffiner, someone who prepares the dead for burial and their trip to the next world. Although his wife and an old friend disdain his efforts, he stays with and becomes deeply engaged in this trade, which is so very much about honoring the lives lived. This is a very fine, touching and excellent film